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Post by tinkerpearce on Mar 21, 2020 1:48:51 GMT -5
After work today I got to thinking, and was in the shop unsupervised sooooo... seemed like the time to invent a new cartridge. I have a Webley Mk.1 I'm fond of and enjoy shooting. It's been shaved for .45 ACP, and typically one makes light .45 ACP loads or loads .45 Auto Rim- again, light loads. .45 ACP makes a lot more pressure than .455, and running full-power .45 ACP loads will tend to induce 'Wobbley Webley" syndrome. I've been doing light ACP loads because I actually like the moon clips I picked up, but they are fairly inefficient, and running light loads in this brass has produced inconsistent results. I have some nice copper-washed 255gr. TCL bullets, and with a little figuring determined that if I shortened the .45 ACP brass to the length of .450 Adams a charge of 4.5gr. of Unique would fill about 95% of the space under the bullet, which seemed like a pretty good idea if one wants consistency. I'm swimming in .45 ACP brass, so why not? I set up a jig and shortened a bunch of brass and set to, and pretty soon I had a mess of .455 Rimless Short to load into my moon clips. Loaded over a 4.5gr charge of Unique with a CCI300 primer, I figure these will be good for 625-650 fps. out of the Webley. I fired a test round in my shop- technically a no-no- and it displayed no warning signs for pressure and recoil and muzzle blast were relatively mild. I'll have to chronograph them when I get the chance, and then we'll see what's what. Anyway. it was an interesting diversion. These will feed in my Detonics and my 1911, btw... the short case doesn't seem to matter as they basically headspace off of the extractor. Just a matter if they produce enough power to cycle the guns.
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Post by oddshooter on Mar 21, 2020 11:20:30 GMT -5
Interesting idea. I have those same issues with my shaved .455 HE; they added the ability to shoot 45 Colt. To continue to shoot .455 Webley, I solved them pretty much the same way except for the novel use of that ACP brass.
Like you, no way am I shooting a ACP pressure round in my HE. But, I also, like you, have a ton of ACP brass and this is a good way to use some of them.
My biggest issue was a mismatch of the larger chamber sizes and the smallish groove diameter. I went with a BHN of 10 to get my larger diameter PC'd bullet to squeeze down (swage?) into that forcing cone. The specifications seem to be matching up and it shoots nice little groups now. No leading or spitting and nice low pressure rounds.
Don't you just love the short body, cone head look of the classic .455 Webley? Reminds me of the Cone Heads from Saturday Night Live. I don't know how your TCL bullets work, but I couldn't give up the tickle I get from handling those cones.
And on that question of useless or pointless; If I believe if that was the criteria, most of my toys would disappear. My 357 Mag has done 99% of what I need since the beginning. Many feel the same way about the 45 Colt. But I could never give up my other calibers and pistolas voluntarily. Playing with .455 Webley is just pure FUN.
thanks for the ACP idea, Prescut
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Post by tinkerpearce on Mar 21, 2020 11:34:58 GMT -5
I do love that look- they're like cartoon cartridges. These bullets are BHN11; we'll have to see how they perform when I can do more extensive testing. My 'go-to' .45 bullet has long been a soft 200gr. RNFP, and these worked fine in my Mk.1. I got these TCLs cheap, and figured this to be a good way to put them to use.
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Post by boolitdesigner on Mar 21, 2020 12:27:40 GMT -5
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Post by tinkerpearce on Mar 21, 2020 13:30:22 GMT -5
Nice! I don't cast bullets though.
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Post by boolitdesigner on Mar 21, 2020 16:09:13 GMT -5
That will come back to bite you someday. Start!
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Post by oddshooter on Mar 22, 2020 11:17:08 GMT -5
"Cartoon cartridges".
I like that a lot. I may have to steal that from you.
Prescut
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